Ding Jihua

Research interests:
1, Flowering phenology in trees
The transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth is an important process in the plant development cycle. Most annual or biennial plants are monocarpic, which flower once in their life cycle and then die. Unlike annual plants, Woody perennial species are typically polycarpic and undergo repeated cycles of vegetative and reproductive growth. therefore, the flowering perennial woody plants is split into two dimensions in perennial trees: the first onset of flowering after many years of juvenility, and the seasonal flowering once reproductive maturity. Such long-life span and polycarpic growth habit require a more complex regulatory network to incorporate environmental cues and mediate the proper timing of flowering. What is the genetic and molacular mechanism behind it?
2, Epigenetic reguation of seasonal acitive-dormancy growth in trees
Trees native to temperate and boreal regions have evolved an important adaptive trait that plant undergoes a seasonal activity-dormancy growth cycle for survival and growth.The seasonal active-dormancy phases in trees are similar to that of seed germination, or vernalization in annual plants. They all need low-temperature stratification and induction. Epigenetics such as chromatin modification, DNA methylation and non-coding RNAs have been reported to play key roles in the seed germination and vernalization processes. To what extend and how epigenetics is involved in seasonal active-dormancy regulation in perennial trees is our interesting area.

• 2006-2011 Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University
• 2004-2006 M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University
• 2000-2004 B.S. in Biological Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University

1. Xiaoli Liao; Yue Li; Zhenzhu Hu; Ying Lin; Bo Zheng; Jihua Ding*; Poplar Acetylome Profiling Reveals Lysine Acetylation Dynamics in Seasonal Bud Dormancy Release, Plant, Cell & Environment, 2021, 44:1830–1845.
2. Jihua Ding*; Bo Zhang; Yue Li; Domenique André; Ove Nilsson*; Phytochrome B and PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR8 Modulate Seasonal Growth in Trees, New Phytologist, 2021, 232: 2339–2352.3. Ding Jihua; Böhlenius Henrik; Mark Georg Rühl; Chen Peng; Sane Shashank;
Jose A. Zambrano; Zheng Bo; Maria E. Eriksson; Nilsson Ove*; GIGANTEA-like genes control seasonal growth cessation in Populus, New Phytologist, 2018, 218: 1491-1503.
4. Ding, Jihua; Nilsson, Ove*; Molecular regulation of phenology in trees- because the seasons they are a-changin’, Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 2016, 29: 73-79.
5. Wang Jing; Ding Jihua; Tan Biyue; Kathryn M. Robinson; Ingrid H. Michelson; Johansson Anna; Nystedt Björn; Douglas G. Scofield; Nilsson Ove; Jansson Stefan; Nathaniel R. Street; Pär K. Ingvarsson*; A major locus controls local adaptation and adaptive life history variation in a perennial plant, Genome Biology 2018 19(72).
6. Jihua Ding, Qin Lu, Yidan Ouyang, Hailiang Mao, Pingbo Zhang, Jialing Yao, Caiguo Xu, Xianghua Li, Qifa Zhang. A long noncoding RNA regulates photoperiod-sensitive male sterility, an essential component of hybrid rice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2012, 109(7):2654-2659. (Recommended by Faculty 1000)
7. Jihua Ding, Jianqiang Shen, Hailiang Mao, Caiguo Xu, Weibo Xie and Qifa Zhang. RNA-directed DNA methylation involves in controlling photoperiod-sensitive male sterility in rice. Molecular Plant, 2012, 5(6): 1210-6.
8. Jiangyi Yang, Xiaobo Zhao, Ke Cheng, Hongyi Du, Yidan Ouyang, Jiongjiong Chen, Shuqing Qiu, Jianyan Huang, Yunhe Jiang, Liwen Jiang, Jihua Ding, Jia Wang, Caiguo Xu, Xianghua Li, Qifa Zhang*. A Killer-Protector System Regulates Both Hybrid Sterility and Segregation Distortion in Rice. Science, 2012, 337:1336-1340.
9. Yidan Ouyang, Jiongjiong Chen, Jihua Ding, and Qifa Zhang. Advances in the understanding of inter-subspecific hybrid sterility and wide-compatibility in rice. Chinese Science Bulletin, 2009, 54(14):2332-2341.
10. Jiongjiong Chen#, Jihua Ding#, Yidan Ouyang#, Hongyi Du, Jiangyi Yang, Ke Cheng, Jie Zhao, Shuqing Qiu, Xuelian Zhang, Jialing Yao, Kede Liu, Lei Wang, Caiguo Xu, Xianghua Li, Yongbiao Xue, Mian Xia, Qing Ji, Jufei Lu, Mingliang Xu, and Qifa Zhang. A triallelic system of S5 is a major regulator of the reproductive barrier and compatibility of indica–japonica hybrids in rice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2008, 105:11436–11441. (# co-first author, Recommended by Faculty 1000)